A Dream Within A Dream
by Magdalena Iris Roth
Summary: (Thir13en Ghosts - Tru Calling Crossover) The house was destroyed, the spirits were free, all that were involved were now dead... but someone wasn't ready for what death had to offer them...
1. Sorry

Author's Note:  
  
That's right, I'm writing another fic while one is still under construction in this section...  
  
What can I say except writer's block is a bitch that has to be beaten... HARD! With the Torn Prince's baseball bat I'd imagine...  
  
Anyway onto to basic procedure... This is a crossover story between the TV show Tru Calling and the Dark Castle movie Thir13en Ghosts. It takes place right after the movie and somewhere in the middle of the show, so lets just pretend that it all went on at the same time and makes since, okay?  
  
This will no doubt be a short fic, but seeing since I don't believe in writing one shot fics (only reading them, lol), there will be lots and lots of chapters to come... lets just hope I don't get too carried away with this little idea like I did with my supposed "Prequel to Thir13en Ghosts" and start a whole series... cuz that would suck!  
  
~ Magdalena Iris Roth  
  
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Tru sat in the room alone, quietly scribbling away at her paperwork, glancing up only to look at the clock on the wall overhead. She sighed dully to herself, only a few more hours to go, she thought. Oh well, at least the day hadn't been a total waste, at least she had been able to get some of her paperwork done, which was overdue on most of the cases, and at least she hadn't thought about Luc in a few hours... or was it minutes? Ever since they had broken up at the cabin things were so dull and boring in her life, not to mention the fact that no one had asked for help in awhile... but was that a good thing, or a bad thing? She wasn't sure.  
  
"Honey we're home!" came the familiar, and as far as Tru was concerned, annoying sound of Gardez as he rolled the gurney into the large room.  
  
"What's this?" the brunette asked as he rolled in three more gurneys as well, one right behind the other.  
  
"This would be a dead guy..." he answered smartly, laughing at his own words hysterically as he pointed down at the black body bag, Tru wasn't so amused.  
  
"I meant..." she let out a tired sigh. "You know what I meant!" she then responded disdainfully, glaring at him with boredom.  
  
"Geez... somebody's been having a bad day!" he remarked while walking over to the white board on the wall, he quickly marked down a number then turned back towards her.  
  
She remained silent as she walked over to one of the four gurneys, her manicured hand reached out to grasp the zipper on the large black body bag.  
  
"I wouldn't do that just yet!" Gardez alerted her suddenly, just as she was about to drag the zipper down she stopped.  
  
"Why not?" she asked while narrowing her gaze on him.  
  
"Some of these are pretty messed up..." was all he said with a twisted look on his tan face.  
  
"Messed up how exactly?" she pushed for a more detailed an answer.  
  
"Like squished..." he said with a nod to the gurney to his right. "Sliced..." a nod towards the gurney she stood over. "And last but not least, diced!" he then nodded finally towards the one beside the left wall.  
  
"What about that one?" she pointed towards the gurney to the far left, the only one Gardez had not mentioned in his unamusing little speech.  
  
"Oh that guy..." he trailed off as he began to leave the room. "I guess he's okay to look at... he's only been broken in half... the others are pretty puke-worthy though if ya ask me!" he flashed her a halfhearted smile before walking out of the room.  
  
"Why can't we have more people like Gardez in the world, huh?" Tru muttered to herself jadedly as she watched him leave, she then turned towards the gurney he had just told her about.  
  
She reached over and grasped the tag of the zipper, she then paused once she remembered his words.  
  
"Come on Tru, what are you, six?" she asked herself quietly, trying to build up her courage.  
  
She slowly pulled the zipper down on the black bag, she stopped tugging on it once it was at the waistline of the body. Tru pushed back the bag to get a look at who it was inside, he was young, around her age, blood streamed down the right side of his face and out of his nose as his lifeless teal eyes stared up at her blankly.  
  
"Tru!" came the loud voice from behind her, she jumped slightly with shock.  
  
"What!" she called back unhappily, gasping for breath as she struggled to calm her nerves.  
  
"Can I see you for a moment?" Davis asked, sending her a questioning look as he walked out of the crypt, back towards his office.  
  
"What is it?" she asked as she walked up to him, her eyes immediately falling on the dark haired older man who stood next to her boss.  
  
The man held his arms tightly, shaking as he glanced over at her with exhaustion in his eyes.  
  
"This is mister..." Davis trailed off as he began to introduce them, he had obviously forgotten the man's name.  
  
"Kriticos... Arthur Kriticos..." the man answered shakily, nodding towards her kindly, his face still showing nothing but misery though.  
  
"I'm Tru Davies." She told him with compassion in her voice, she then looked back to Davis with curiosity.  
  
"Mr. Kriticos claims to know the identities of the deceased." Davis then said with a slight nod, as if this explained everything.  
  
"Well couldn't we have just looked for id like we always do?" she asked him softly, trying not to offend the man to her right.  
  
"Gardez said the cops couldn't find any at the scene due to the condition of the bodies." He gave another knowing nod, Tru glanced over at Mr. Kriticos to make sure he wasn't upset by Davis' literalness.  
  
Arthur only dropped his head respectfully, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.  
  
Tru nodded before leading both men into the crypt, she then stood silently out of their way as Davis took the man over to the first body bag. She silently hoped to herself that Davis had searched the man for any weapons before allowing him in, she then realized that he was just as wary of someone attacking them in the morgue as much as she was, and he hadn't even experienced the ordeal like she had.  
  
With a relieved sigh she focused her attention back on what was happening in the now, Mr. Kriticos let out muffled gasp as he pressed his hand over his mouth once Davis had unzipped the bag.  
  
"That's the lawyer, the one that... Ben Moss was his name..." was all the older man said, Tru didn't blame him for not saying more.  
  
"Could you write that down so we won't forget or get them mixed up..." Davis whispered to her as he glanced back in her direction, she quickly reached in her white coat pocket and removed a pen and small pad of paper.  
  
Tru scribbled down the number on the bag and the name the man had given them, she then looked back up to see Arthur and Davis standing next the second bag. With a brief pull of the zipper both men quickly looked away with a discussed look on their now pale faces, Davis then quickly re-zipped the bag.  
  
"That's Kalina... Kalina Oretzia..." Arthur muttered softly, they then made their way to the last zipped bag in the room. "And that's my uncle, Cyrus Kriticos is his name..." Arthur stated with little pity once the bag was unzipped to reveal the disheveled pieces that were once a man.  
  
"I remember that name..." Davis began with a look of confusion. "He was pronounced dead a few days ago..."  
  
"He wasn't really dead... it's a long story, I gave it to the police already, if you want to hear it get it from them..." Arthur told them while slowly moving towards the gurney that Tru had been at earlier, Davis finally snapped out of contemplation enough to walk behind the man.  
  
Tru wrote down the name and added a quick question mark beside it as if to say 'get more info', she then readied her pen while glancing up again.  
  
"Oh god..." the man sighed deeply with evident sadness as he stared down at the open body bag. "Dennis..." he then whispered under his breath.  
  
Noticing the sudden silence, Tru walked over to the gurney and stood beside it, sending Davis a curious look as she did.  
  
"What's his name?" Davis asked gently, trying not to upset the man anymore then he already was.  
  
"Dennis Rafkin..." he answered simply, now calmer and less emotional. "He saved us... none of us would have survived if he hadn't done this..." he then added, gazing down at the body one last time before turning from it and walking away.  
  
Tru came to her senses, broken from thought once the man started walking towards the door, she wrote down the name he had given and then shoved the pen and paper back into her pockets.  
  
"I'm very sorry you had to do this, please except my condolences..." Davis rambled to the man as they exited the crypt, heading back to his office for paperwork no doubt.  
  
Tru turned to follow them, just as she did she glanced back at the body which lay on the gurney, smiling a faint smile of sadness she reached over and slid her hand down the man's face, finally closing his open eyes.  
  
"Sorry Dennis..." she uttered softly as she walked away from him, not even looking back as she left the room. 


	2. Hello?

"That guy looked really shook up..." Tru muttered as she rubbed her eyes tiredly, referring to the grief stricken Arthur Kriticos.  
  
"Yeah, I can only imagine what he's been through..." Davis sighed as they entered the crypt together.  
  
"I'd say a meat grinder with the way these two look." She commented with a nudge towards the gurneys to her right.  
  
"Yeah, well we better get started on this one, I don't know about you but I'm not really up to working on the other three right this second..." Davis gave a weary look to the other gurneys as he stood over the open body bag, which held the late Dennis Rafkin.  
  
"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to see that either right now." She agreed as he switched on the overhead tape recorder.  
  
"Its eleven twenty-three p.m. on Friday, March 17, 2003..." Davis began to in-detail to the mechanical box as Tru fully unzipped the black bag and pulled it away from the body. "Autopsy of subject 4021208..." he continued as she stared downward sympathetically.  
  
Davis gave her a slight nod and she began to remove things from the corpse's pockets.  
  
"Hey, I thought Gardez said they didn't find any identification on any of them?" Tru wondered out loud as she held the small piece of paper in her hand that she had retrieved from the deceased's pocket.  
  
"Maybe the police were just too afraid to touch the bodies, I mean after all... look at them..." was all Davis said with an obvious expression on his face, Tru nodded in agreement.  
  
"It's a school ID card..." she then muttered while looking the piece of paper over carefully. "Matilda Jensen... I wonder who she was?" she added before lightly placing it on the metal pan which sat on the table nearby.  
  
After removing his other items like clothing, shoes and watch, they finally began to autopsy the body.  
  
"Left hand and wrist is completely deteriorated, broken in three... no four places..." Davis narrated as Tru watched silently, her eyes following him as he examined the bloody hand of the deceased man on the table. "Top of the spinal column is severally shattered at the third and forth cervical vertebrae as well as the lower lumbar region of the vertebrae and pelvis." He continued.  
  
"So his neck was broken..." she said finally, a look of confusion on her face.  
  
"That and his spinal cord was severed..." Davis added while glancing up at her.  
  
"But which killed him?" she questioned, more lost then she was before.  
  
"Well it could have been a number of things... broken neck, severed spine... but what I believe did it was the internal hemorrhaging from the blunt force of whatever blow did this to him." He answered her in all seriousness, she only nodded in realization.  
  
"Hell of a way to go..." she mumbled sadly in response.  
  
"Well it depends really..." Davis stated simply.  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked back.  
  
"Well if the top of the spinal cord was shattered first then its most likely that he didn't feel much of anything after that... so he was technically dead the moment his neck was broken, the rest was just overkill." He concluded.  
  
"So somebody was just taking out their anger on him..." she said to herself more then Davis.  
  
"Seems that way... personally I'd recommend Anger Management..." he added dully, she looked over at him questioningly. "Ya know... if the killer wasn't already guilty of murder... whoever the killer is..." he then uncomfortably implied before walking away from the examining table in defeat.  
  
Tru watched him leave for a moment before deciding to do the same, after all, what more could she do?  
  
#  
  
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Her eyes moved under her eyelids as the faded call roused her from her sleep, Tru sat upright from where her head had rested on her folded arms on the desk before her. With a quick rub of her eyes she yawned and looked up at the clock.  
  
"Aw man!" she whined, realizing she had fallen asleep.  
  
She stood up from her seat and removed her white lab coat, she then grabbed her dark blue jean jacket from the coat rack by the office door and threw it on. She made her way down the hall, towards the main entrance of the morgue, it was after midnight and time to go home.  
  
And then she heard it, the least welcome sound of the day. Tru stopped dead in her tracks as she listened carefully to the chilling silence around her... nothing but quiet. Slowly she decided to keep walking towards the main doors, and then it came again, that faint whisper that was meant only for her ears.  
  
"Hello?" the brunette called to the empty hallway, the dim lighting casting shadows as she walked back towards the crypt.  
  
Her hand pushed back one of the doors, the creepy creaking of it sending chills down her spine as she entered the crypt cautiously. Tru then glanced warily around at the gurneys positioned around the room.  
  
"Oh please... not this again!" she sighed to herself fearfully, she really didn't want this to turn out like the time those five ex-frat guys all decided to ask for her help at the same time, talk about confusion!  
  
She then heard the muffled sound again. Taking a deep breath Tru lightly stepped over to the gurney, the black body bag which lay on it was neatly zipped, she then remembered that Davis had re-zipped them all before leaving the crypt after their autopsy. Hesitantly she grasped the metal tag, her hand shaking slightly as she drug it downward.  
  
Her dark brown eyes gazed down at the pale face of the deceased man who she and Davis had autopsied earlier, right about now she was kicking herself for not remembering his name. What was it, she asked herself in sheer annoyance, it was Dennis something wasn't it, damn her memory for forgetting such a crucial detail at a moment like this!  
  
"Dennis..." she muttered to herself, hoping that hearing his name out loud would jar her memory.  
  
Just as she was beginning to recall what the older man had said his name was earlier Tru heard something else which made her look back at the gurney.  
  
"Help!" he whaled despairingly with desperation, his glossy teal eyes staring into hers.  
  
Tru jumped with fright as she was yanked from her thoughts, her head began to feel dizzy as the entire room began to spin violently in a vibrant flash of not only the day's events but also much more.  
  
#  
  
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The clock radio switched on beside her and Tru slung herself upward in the disheveled bed. Gasping for air as if she were just awakened from a nightmare she began to look around the room in a panic.  
  
It was then that she noticed the TV across from her bed was on, but wait... she hadn't forgotten to turn it off the night before, in fact the last time she fell asleep with the TV on was...  
  
"Good morning everyone!" the news reporter announced on the television set. "It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day!"  
  
Tru's head was spinning as she struggled to understand what was happening, then she heard the end of the newscast where they announced the day's date.  
  
"Its Monday, March 12th... everyone have a nice day." The anchorwoman stated, Tru's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"Oh my god!" she gasped while staring ahead at the blank television screen. "I've been sent back five days!" 


	3. Improvising

"Five days, Davis!" Tru exclaimed as she frantically tagged along after her boss. "I mean that's like a week!"

"Yes... five days can be conceived as a week to some people..." he said with distraction as he kept his head down, reading the paperwork in his hands.

"But why that long? Why not just let me relive the day before?" she questioned curiously.

"Well obviously whatever can be done to stop this happened five days or so before the person's death... what did you say his name was?" Davis wondered, still continuing to stare at his paperwork.

"Um... that's the thing..." Tru trailed off in shame, Davis finally glanced up to see the look of embarrassment on her face. "I kinda forgot his name..."

"You what?" he asked in shock. "How could you do that! Now how are we going to find him?"

"It's okay... I remember his first name was Dennis, but I do remember the name on this school ID card he had on him when he died." She assured him, rushing into the office and sitting down in front of the computer.

"Reagan High?" Davis muttered as he stood over her while she typed away, she had brought up the homepage for the nearby high school.

"Yeah... I remember we used to run against them in semi-finals..." she answered, Tru then looked up and saw the puzzled look on Davis' face. "Back in high school... track..." she then explained, he suddenly nodded at her words with realization.

"So what was the name?" he then asked.

"Matilda Jensen." She replied simply.

#

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"Hi, can you tell me where I can find a student by the name of Matilda Jensen?" Tru asked one of the female teachers that stood by the school's entrance, it apparently was lunchtime.

The woman only pointed towards a group of teenage girls that were standing beside the school's back steps. Tru made her way over to them slowly, the truth was she was still trying to think up what she was going to say to this girl when she found her.

"Five, six, seven, eight, who do we appreciate..." she heard the girls quote as they practiced cheer moves and stretches.

"Oh great... it's the cheerleading squad!" Tru mumbled under her breath, this wasn't going to be easy.

Just as she was about to approach the girls Tru heard someone else speak up.

"Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, move your ass or go to hell!" the annoyed female voice shouted angrily at the squad from behind them.

The cheerleaders turned towards whoever spoke, then began to mutter things amongst themselves as they slowly walked away.

"Freaks!" one of them called back as they left, Tru could now see who it was that had spoken up before.

There were now three girls sitting on the redbrick steps, their apparel was dark, as was their make up and attitudes... they were obviously the outcasts of Reagan High.

"Dude... did you just make that cheer up?" one of the girls dressed in all black asked the girl who had offended the cheerleaders.

"Yeah, why?" the brunette in black asked her back in a lost tone.

"You've been watching too much Bring It On!" the girl in black answered, the brunette on the steps only shook her head with amusement.

"Hi..." Tru finally said as she walked up to the girls, they only stared at her mutely with little interest. "I'm looking for Matilda Jensen..."

"That's me." The brunette in black announced dully.

"What'd she do?" the dark-blonde sitting at Matilda's side quickly asked.

"Oh, nothing... I just need to speak with her, that's all." Tru responded kindly.

"Then speak to me." Matilda replied smartly, pushing her dark brown hair behind her ears.

"I was wondering if you knew anyone by the name of Dennis?" Tru asked, hoping this would be enough information.

The brunette on the steps only looked down at the dead grass below her in contemplation, she then raised her head again and looked up at Tru.

"Sorry... don't know anyone by that name." She answered casually, the two girls at her side only smiled up at her smugly, it was then that Tru realized the girl was lying to her.

"This is really important..." Tru tried to make her understand.

"I told you... sorry." And with that Matilda stood up and grabbed her backpack, the other girls followed her lead.

"I see..." Tru commented unamused as the girls walked away from her. "I guess I'm on my own then."

#

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"Maybe we could find the guy that IDed the bodies... perhaps he knows?" Davis asked her over the phone as he sat in his office.

"That's the thing..." Tru began, the same hint of shame in her voice like before.

"Let me guess, you don't remember his name?" Davis questioned, sighing to himself.

"It was a weird name!" she defended as she sat in her car outside the school. "Besides, I think Miss Jensen knows more than she's saying..."

"So what are you going to do?" he wondered.

"Improvise." was all Tru said before hanging up her cell phone.

She watched as the huge crowd of students poured from the school's front doors, school was officially out for the day. Tru started up the car's transmission once she saw her target walking towards the parking lot.

Matilda got into her green car, which was in desperate need of a paint job, she stared it up and pulled out of the school's lot... little did she know she was being followed.

#

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Tru sighed deeply, other then stopping at a fast food joint, that was it for Matilda's daily drive. As she sat at the red light, about three cars behind the tarnished green one, Tru began to wonder if she would ever find this Dennis guy.

Finally her luck caught up with her. Matilda's car came to halt in front of a rather rundown building, the brunette got out of her car with the white sack of food and preceded into the building. Tru waited a few seconds before getting out of her car as well and following the girl, she slowly made her way up the stairs to the third floor, where the girl had last been seen.

Tru peeked around the corner and saw Matilda knock on a door, shortly after it opened and she walked in. Tru quickly memorized the door number and went back down to her car to wait for Matilda to leave.

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About forty-five minutes later the girl came out of the apartment building's entrance, she got into her green car and pulled away from the curb. Tru took this as the perfect opportunity, she locked her car door and walked into the building, she made her way back up the stairs and stopped finally before the door numbered 317.

Knocking lightly she tried to think up a good reason for being at this person's door, she was then thrown from her thoughts at the sound of the door being unlocked.

"What do ya want?" came the whiny male voice from behind the door.

Tru almost stopped breathing at the sight of who now stood before her... it was the dead man from the night before, Dennis.


	4. A Little Help

"Can I help you?" he asked her, trying to sound friendly yet failing miserably at it.

"Uh... I..." Tru stuttered to say, she was dumbstruck that she had been led straight to him, she hadn't even had time to think up a good excuse for stalking him yet.

"Yeah?" Dennis snapped with little patience, widening his gaze on her suspiciously.

Tru let out a slight laugh, feeling a bit embarrassed at her behavior.

"Hi, I'm Tru Davies..." she decided to introduce herself, Dennis only looked her up and down skeptically. "Can I come in?" she then asked sweetly.

"Why?" he wondered cautiously.

"I just really need to talk to you..." she tried to explain seriously, this only made him scoff at her dryly.

"Look, whatever it is you want to 'talk' about..." he emphasized the word talk with even more skepticism then his other words. "I'm broke and you can do better... bye!" he then quickly slammed the door in her face.

Tru stood in the same spot for a minute, she stared ahead at the now closed door, she couldn't believe what had just happened.

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#

"So you found him... that's a start..." Davis said to himself more then Tru as they both stood in his office trying to think up their next move.

"Davis..." Tru said in all seriousness, Davis looked over at her in response. "Do I look like a prostitute to you?" she then asked in the same serious tone as before.

"What?" he uttered blankly, not really knowing how to answer.

"Do I look cheap to you?" her voice now a bit whiney with worry, Davis only glanced over apparel slightly.

"Well... uh..." he feared to answer truthfully, she narrowed her gaze on him. "It wouldn't hurt to wear something less... provocative..." he then stared down at his desk, avoiding eye contact with her.

Tru looked down at herself mutely, defeat filling her.

"What's wrong with the way I look?" she then questioned sadly.

"Nothing... I didn't say... who said you look like a prostitute anyway?" he then asked, looking back at her finally.

"The Dennis guy... he thought I wanted money to 'talk' to him!" she explained, using the same tone for the word talk as Dennis had earlier.

"He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about..." Davis muttered back sincerely, Tru smiled at him slightly. "So... you should probably go back to the girl, Matilda..." he then changed the subject to a more serious one. "She seems to be the only shoe-in for talking to this guy..."

"I gotta better idea..." Tru stated, grabbing her jacket.

"Really, what?" Davis wondered curiously.

"Well I figure I have to find out more about this guy if I'm gonna save his life, right?" She began to explain, he only nodded in response. "So why not take a closer look at where he lives..." she finished, Davis sent her an even more curious look.

"You mean you're going to break into his apartment?" he asked seriously, looking her over closely.

"Well with a little help..." she sighed at the thought.

"Just be careful..." Davis said in defeat, deciding to give up on changing her stubborn mind. "And if the cops happen to catch you, remember... I don't know you." He added, Tru only smiled at him gratefully before making her way towards the door.

"Oh and Davis..." she paused before exiting the room, he turned towards her again. "Thanks." she told him kindly, she then left office.

"Anytime..." he replied to the empty room, he then went back to his paperwork.

#  
  
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The black cell phone rang as the red dice flipped atop the green table, the others around it screamed with excitement as the low ringer blended in with their cheers.

"Goddamn it!" the cell phone's owner spat once the dice stopped moving, it was then that he noticed the persistent ring. "What do ya want?" his agitated voice echoed into the receiver.

"Harrison, I need your help..." Tru alerted him.

"Well if it isn't my favorite psycho sister..." he joked while leaning back in his chair.

"Just shut up and meet me at the corner of Fifth and Madison in fifteen minutes!" she snapped in a hurry, she was in no mood for his crap today.

"Yeah, sure... whatever!" he prattled with little interest before hanging up the phone.

"You in or out?" the greasy looking guy to his left asked menacingly.

"Sorry but I'm out..." Harrison said, throwing what money he owed on the table while standing up from his seat.

#  
  
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#

"I still don't see why you have to be here..." Tru asked in annoyance as her little brother sat beside her in the passenger's seat of her car.

They were parked across the street from the rundown apartment building where Dennis resided.

"Do you really think I'd let you get into trouble all by yourself..." he answered with a chortle. "Why the hell are we just sitting here anyway?"

"Because, we have to wait for him to leave before we can do anything!" she started the obvious.

"Is he supposed to leave soon then 'cause this is boring as hell!" Harrison smarted, Tru sighed at him wearily.

"He's bound to leave sometime... no one can stay in that place forever." She muttered to herself more then her brother.

Almost two hours later, just as the sun was beginning to set, they noticed a very fancy black car pull up to the curb across from them.

"Now what would a nice looking car like that be doing in front of a hellhole like this?" Harrison muttered with boredom.

It was then that they saw the lanky Dennis exit the apartment building and get into the car.

"Interesting..." Harrison whispered jokingly as the expensive car took off down the street now one passenger heavier.

"Okay... lets go..." Tru said as she opened her door and stepped out, Harrison tiredly did the same.


	5. Worth Saving

"Hurry up before someone sees us!" Tru fussed at her brother as he moved the small metal tools inside the one of the door's many locks.

"Newsflash, Tru! Do you really think anyone here would call the cops?" Harrison smarted back, just then the lock clicked over. "Finally!" he sighed with relief. "This guy has more locks then Fort Knox!"

He twisted the rusty doorknob, the door creaked open to reveal the cold, dark apartment. They slowly entered the room, feeling their way around, it was then that Tru heard a loud crash.

"Ah, shit!" Harrison cried in pain.

"What happened?" Tru asked with worry, the room then filled with a burst of light.

"Found the light..." her brother muttered dryly, his hand on the lamp's switch as he struggled to set it back up after tripping over it.

"Watch where you're going..." she warned him quietly, he rolled his eyes at her.

The two then began to investigate the small apartment for anything helpful.

"Wow, of all the crappy three room apartments I've seen in my time... this is the crappiest!" Harrison scoffed as he walked around. "What does this guy own three lamps, including the one in the bathroom? Just so we're clear, don't ever say anything bad about my place again!"

"Shut up and look for anything important!" Tru scolded him, he only shook his head at her in angst.

Tru searched through the messy papers on the nearby desk as Harrison disappeared into the darkened bedroom. She started to read some of them as she flipped through, they were mostly overdue bills and junk mail addressed to the apartment, no name.

"Hello!" she then heard her brother screech from the other room.

"You find something?" she called to him, he then reappeared in the doorway, holding something up in her direction.

Tru quickly took the card from him and looked it over, it was an old ID.

"Dennis Rafkin..." she read out loud.

"Is that the guy?" Harrison asked, she nodded at him before walking back to the desk.

"We need to find something else, like where he works, or where he went tonight..." she told him as she continued to flip through the papers.

"Has this guy ever heard of post-it notes?" Harrison wondered out loud, looking the wall over, Tru turned toward him in response.

"What?" she questioned while walking over to where he stood.

"He just writes all his info and stuff on the wall..." he explained, pointing to the names, phone numbers, and appointments scribbled all over the dirty wall.

"Look at this one..." Tru pointed to one of them. "Wednesday, meet Cyrus at 8..." she read, she then said the name again. "Cyrus... that was the one guy!" she was beginning to remember now.

"What guy?" Harrison asked in a lost tone.

"One of the dead guys from yesterday... I mean Friday... you know what I mean!" she exclaimed as she ran over to another stack of papers.

"Whatever..." he mumbled back as she searched through the messy papers.

"Yes!" she shrieked with excitement, holding up an old check stub. "To Dennis Rafkin in the amount of two-thousand dollars from Cyrus Kriticos!" she read happily.

"Is this the girl?" Harrison asked suddenly, showing Tru a tattered school picture he had found.

"Yeah, that's Matilda..." she then went back to looking through the papers.

"Kinda odd don't ya think..." he stated while looking the picture over.

"Huh?" Tru sighed with distraction.

"You know... teenage girl... him... the ID said he was what, twenty-two... you do the math." He explained.

"Twenty-seven... the ID was five years old." She corrected him.

"I'm just saying, getting into that fancy car, getting the big bucks from Mr. K, yet living in this hellhole and messing around with an underage girl... makes ya think." He continued, Tru looked up from what she was doing.

"Makes you think what?" she asked curiously.

"Maybe this guy isn't worth saving..." he advised gently. "You remember the wacko at the cabin... and he was going to prison, but this guy... he's obviously into drugs or something, and with her..." he held up the picture in explanation.

Tru paused to take in what he was saying, she then quickly brushed it away.

"If he wasn't worth saving he wouldn't have asked for my help." She replied sternly, she then snatched the picture from her brother and placed on the table beside them. "We should get going... I think I have all the information I'll need for now." She put the ID and check stub in her pocket before turning towards the door.

"Suit yourself..." Harrison muttered under his breath as he followed her, shutting off the light on his way out.

#  
  
#  
  
#

Once Tru got home she grabbed a phone book and began flipping through to the business section, it was there that she found what she was looking for. She quickly wrote down the address to the company that had produced Dennis check, no doubt Cyrus was his boss.

She changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed, she had a busy day ahead of her tomorrow, that is if she didn't wake up to Monday all over again... then again, who knows, maybe she'd wake up to Saturday instead and it all would have just been a dream.


End file.
